


One feather and a deck of cards

by laurahonest



Category: Tenkuu no Escaflowne | The Vision of Escaflowne
Genre: Alternate Ending, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-02
Updated: 2014-02-02
Packaged: 2018-01-10 23:42:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1166007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laurahonest/pseuds/laurahonest
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An alternate ending where Hitomi and Van aren't trapped on different worlds.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One feather and a deck of cards

**Author's Note:**

> I rewatched the Vision of Escaflowne after having apparently blocked the ending out of my mind because I didn't like it. This is how I feel it should have ended. Pardon any errors, this is unbetaed and written in a fit of annoyance. The italicised bit is the dialogue straight from the final episode. No plagiarism intended, I included it so that you readers would know where my story starts.
> 
> All characters and worlds belong to their original creators. I make no profit from this. I am just playing in someone else's sandbox here.

_“Escaflowne should be kept asleep.” Van said as he pulled the energist out of its setting. “My brother’s wish was for a Fanelia and a Gaea where no one would depend on it and I want to see that world.”_

_“I want to see it with you” Hitomi agreed, “…or can I?” she asked hesitantly. “The truth is; I love it here. I love Fanelia.”_

_“That is more than fine with me.” Van said with a smile. “The truth is we can see each other any time we want. We just have to think of each other.”_

Hitomi held out her grandmother’s pendant and gave it to Van “Keep it Van. I want to you to keep it as a promise.” She wiped a tear from her eye before going on, “I have done so much here and seen so much and I am not the same girl I was when I first arrived. I love you Van but my family back home is probably very worried about me.” Van nodded his understanding and she continued. “I need to return home. I want to stay with you but before I can do that I have to say goodbye to my family.” 

Van raised his arm and the energist glowed green. The pillar of light appeared and Hitomi started to rise up within it. “Van, come for me in two years if you still want me to be here with you. I love you Van!” she called out as she disappeared. “I love you Hitomi,” Van whispered toward the empty space she had just occupied.

Hitomi landed on the school’s track with a gentle thump. She was home, back in her own world, but there was an ache at her very core. She already missed the warmth of Van’s arms and the light in his smile. She sat down on the track, hugged her knees to her chest and had a good cry. When she had cried it out she felt better. She stood up, wiped her face off and headed for home. Her mother met her at the door and hugged her tightly.

“I knew you were back dear,” she said as she embraced her daughter, “I’ve missed you terribly.” She pushed Hitomi back and stared at her daughter very carefully. “You’ve grown up a lot while you were gone. You’ve fallen in love as well. Oh! You need to call your friends, Yukari and Amano have been here several times to talk to me. They were very worried about you. Go call them and then you can tell me all about it while we have tea.”

Hitomi called Yukari and Amano and told them she was back. They both promised to be right over so she waited to tell her mother the story until they arrived. Over tea and cake she told her mother and friends all about her time on Gaea. She told them about her friends Allen, Millerna, Merle, Folken, and Van. She told them about the beauty of the land, the kindness of its people and the tragedy of the war. She told them of the horror of the Zaibach Empire and what they did to Celena. She told them how she used her pendant and tarot cards to try to help her friends and she told them of the sacrifice Folken made to end the war. When she was done she waited to see what they would say. Yukari and Amano were in shock. They hadn’t entirely believed the story Hitomi’s mother had told them, but now they could see the truth of it in Hitomi’s eyes. She hugged them both tightly and said goodbye when they left. 

After her friends left Hitomi told her mother the end of her story. She told her mother how much she loved Van and that she had promised to go back in two years if he came for her. Her mother held her while she cried again. 

“Mother I love him so much. I didn’t want to leave him but I couldn’t live with myself if I hadn’t come back and told you what had happened. The thought of leaving you always wondering what had happened to me was too much.” Hitomi said once her tears had subsided. Her mother just rubbed her back and held her tight, soothing her.

Finally her mother spoke when the last of Hitomi’s sobs had faded away, “I am glad that you came back Hitomi. I love you, my daughter, and yes, I would have worried about you. But, I was sure that you had gone to the world your grandmother spoke of with such joy. I will miss you when you go back with this Van of yours. Your grandmother loved us but she always regretted not staying with that young man she found there, I don’t want that fate for you. Go back to your Van and live your life happily Hitomi.”

“Oh mother,” Hitomi cried as she clung to her mother again, “Thank you mother!” Her mother hugged her tightly and looked out the window at the pillar of light in the yard. 

“Hitomi, I think your ride is here,” she said quietly as she released her daughter and pointed at the boy standing outside.

Hitomi ran to the door and threw it open. Van rushed to her and picked her up in a tight embrace. “It hasn’t been two years, only a week but I couldn’t wait any longer,” he said as he set her back down. “I need you by my side; will you please come back with me?”

Hitomi gasped “It has been a week already? I only just got here a few hours ago!”

Hitomi’s mother was standing in the doorway with a small bag. She handed it to Hitomi and said “I love you my child. Go with him, it is your destiny. I always knew you would go where I couldn’t follow someday. I’ll always love you even if I can’t see you.”

Hitomi let go of Van’s hand and hugged her mother one last time, “Thank you mother. I love you,” she whispered. Then Hitomi walked back to Van and took his hand.

Van looked at Hitomi’s mother and said, “Thank you.” She nodded at him, understanding all that he was trying to convey to her with those two simple words. He wrapped his arms around Hitomi and held her tightly as the pillar of light engulfed them again. 

Hitomi’s mother called out to Van “That is my only daughter in your arms, take good care of her Van Fanel!” She watched as the two figures rose in the light and just before she lost sight of them she saw Van’s wings open up and wrap around Hitomi. Then the light was gone and she was alone in the yard. A single pure white feather floated down from the sky. She held out her hand and the feather landed on her palm. She stood there with the feather in her hand staring at the sky for a while longer before going back inside. She put the feather carefully in a small vase that Hitomi had given her, Hitomi’s tarot cards were placed carefully in front of the vase. She kept the two items together long after everyone she knew forgot that she had ever had a daughter. She knew that her daughter was on Gaea with that strange winged boy. She knew her daughter was happy there and she was sure she had lots of little winged grandchildren somewhere on that world floating above her out of her sight.


End file.
